Porsche on top in 6 Hours of Mexico FP1

Porsche LMP1 Team led the way in the opening practice for the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Mexico, with Andre Lotterer in the No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid setting a 1m27.026s late in the session, just over half a second quicker than the sister No. 1 Porsche which ended up second.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050s were on top early in the session, while the track was wet. A rain shower prior to the session meant the times tumbled throughout, with the runners switching to wets about 30 minutes into the 90 minutes of running.

The best time from the two Toyotas was a 1m28.029s by Mike Conway in the No. 7 which ended up third, a second off the fastest time set by Lotterer. The No. 8 was two seconds off the ultimate pace in fourth.

Fastest in LMP2 and fifth overall was the sole Signatech Alpine A470, with Nicolas Lapierre setting the fastest time of the car's trio of drivers. The Frenchman managed a 1m34.556s, three tenths faster than Bruno Senna in the No. 13 Rebellion ORECA 07 who ended the day second fastest.

Completing the top three in the class – which in Mexico is made up entirely of ORECA chassis – was the G-Drive Racing machine, Roman Rusinov the fastest driver for the Russian-flagged team with a 1m35.506.

In GTE Pro, AF Corse topped the times, with James Calado touring the circuit in 1m41.101 in the No. 51 Ferrari 488 GTE. The No. 91 Porsche and No. 95 Aston Martin completed the top three, 0.076 and 0.196 back respectively after laps set by Frederic Makowiecki and Nicki Thiim.

Like LMP1, GTE Am was also a Porsche 1-2, led by the No. 77 Dempsey Proton Racing 911 after Matteo Cairoli reeled off a 1m42.461, with the Gulf Racing example second, just a tenth off. It was an encouraging start to the event for the Gulf crew, Nick Foster topping the GTE times and even mixing in with the LMP2 runners early in the session when the conditions were worst. In the end though, Benjamin Barker was the quickest driver in the car, after a late 1m42.576.

The No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage rounded out the top three, while the championship leaders in the Clearwater Racing Ferrari ended up fifth and last in the class behind the Spirit of Race Ferrari.

During the session, the only notable incident was the No. 24 CEFC Manor TRS ORECA being reported as slow on track.

The on-track action in Mexico City is set to continue tomorrow with Free Practice 2 at 9:30 a.m. local time.